Friday, January 9, 2009

A VIsit with a Country Doctor

Wow, it's already the ninth of January. One week down and three to go and we'll be butting heads with what passes for real winter around here. Today Mac and I had our appointments with our family Doc, Dr. Moyd. I love him. He listens, and more importantly, he hears what you have to say. He saw Mac first and then came an told me everything. Seems Mac's in pretty good shape. This is good news to one who loves him, news that I was gratified to get. Dr. Moyd is going through my file and letting me ramble on about what I've been doing that's good for me and of course we had a short discussion about the evils of Rum Cake. Ahem. Then we got deep into discussion about how RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) is affecting both our lives. After telling him that the Rheumatologist made the horrendous suggestion that we do surgery on my ankle and go in for the chemo drip for the condition, he asked me in a whisper, "and what have you decided?""I decided to spit in his eye and run like hell, " I whispered back.

He smiled at first, then broke out into a raucous laugh. Holding out the arthritic hands that had been through surgery with no help at all from the pain of it, he said, "wish I had had your courage." I knew that he had had the surgery a couple of years back and had even then questioned the wisdom of it. But we continued this visit the way we always do. Him..."Want the flu shot?"

Me..."no." Him. "Don't blame you, how about a colonoscopy, want me to set that up?" Me. "Has hell frozen over yet? You'll be sure and keep me posted on that event, okay?" Him. "Okay, that's no to the colonoscopy. Now, we have this new thing we'll be using very soon, a camera pill. You swallow, it takes pretty pictures, it goes byby. When we get that set up, how's about we give it a try?" He smiled at me with encouragement. Me. "You go first. Then I'll see. I haven't recovered from the last one I had. Granted it was done in the dark ages...(the dark ages, hahahahaha) but that was enough for me. For now. When the MRI does the whole works, I'm in."

Him. "In for the MRI," he noted in my file. Then he sat back and asked me questions and glancing down saw that I had skipped my stress test last year. "You know Grainger is going to want a word with you, " he said, one eyebrow cocked. "I know, I know...I can't remember what happened last April that I missed it, but it was them, they called to reschedule and I couldn't find my date book and I promised to call them back and you know how that always works out." I had the good grace to look sheepish. "Well, still and all, lets not do that again, okay? Now, let me have a listen to those lungs." He leaned in and listened front and back and sat back and looked at me with a smile, saying "if you hadn't told me how many years you smoked, I would never believe you'd ever taken a puff. Those are some clear clean lung sounds. Heartbeat is nice and slow. All in all you haven't messed yourself up to much this year."

"I owe it all to you, Doc...you're my guiding inspiration." Then he began to write out my prescriptions. He wrote the first one, dissected the paper into fourths, wrote three more, took another sheet from the pad and wrote yet another one. "Okay, now I'm going to let you change to Byetta for the diabetes, we'll see how this works and back in six weeks. I'm changing your blood pressure meds, because while your heart sounds great I'm not happy with that pressure. We're gonna get it down. So, that's potassium and nexium...oh and I want you to stay on the altace. Now." He sat back, looking at me expectantly.

"If I'm in such great shape, Doc, can you please tell me why I need American Tourister to help me carry my medicine ?" Dismissing me, my little Country Doc said, " them's the breaks. " Writing out a lot of gibberish on a Lab Request sheet, he gave me a stern look. " Now go give Vampira her blood payment." I haven't rolled my eyes lately. At his final remark, I think I may have sprained my eye muscles. Now, this is an edit here! I want you all to know that while Dr. Moyd is so very special and listens so intently, he is also pretty darned good with that pen when he's writing out referrals to other doctors. It appears I have a date with a camera man on February 20th. How did I lose control of my free will?

49 comments:

Tee hee...:-)Sounds like you've got your doctor under control.Maybe you should reconsider the roto rooter (colonoscopy). It's a valuable procedure.Please don't spit at me or strain your eyes rolling them my way!!I'm glad that all in all your health report was good.I'm sorry you're dealing with the health issues you have, but I must say that I admire how well you are handling them.Happy and Healthy New Year!!!!

Hi SandiI'll be back in the morning to read this post. Sounds great, as usual! We got home from the lake this evening and all I want to do is crawl under the covers and watch Monk's new show!

I had to come by and answer your questions, though. I take all the photos for the blog, except for those noted. The majority are mine. Once in awhile J takes a photo. But he only uses the point and shoot, since he feels he's not ready for the big camera. He has a good eye. I have some 35mm shots of his that are fabulous.

As for cleaning...J is a huge help! The cleaning of both our homes is done, by moi, with help from J. Even when we expected all those 300 people to come walking through our home during the open house...it was the elderly couple who lives here, who did all the decorating and cleaning. When the kids are at the condo, they clean it...who ever uses it, runs the sweeper and cleans the bathrooms etc, before leaving. There are rules to follow during winter and summer as per turning off the main water, etc.Yep, there are lots of people who believe we have a cleaning lady, but nope, it's just us chickens. Fortunately J is a type A personality who looks for work...that helps a lot with someone like me...decidedly not a type A!LOL

He sounds like a kind and loving man. The kind of doctor we should all be so lucky to have. However, he should have kicked your butt from here to kingdom come for missing that stress test. That camera swallowing thing is a PLUS and you need to do that. I don't even have you as a family member and I just cringe thinking you aren't doing these things. GO for it, sweet girl. We all love you and want you around for awhile.

Oh how I love that you all love me! Of course I'm having my stress test...in about two weeks...and Doc Moyd is wicked with that referral pad, too. Can we all say colonoscopy camera? Drats! He listens, alright...and then does what he thinks is best for his patient...hey, if it wasn't for Mac...lolSandi

HI Sandi,Lol I love your outlook on life!:o)I grew up having a Good Country Dr. I miss him! Now days around here you wait for an hr. go to the exam room wait another hr. Dr. in and out in 10 mins. Hope you test results are good when you have them.Have a Great wk.end!Blessins,Lib

I watched Monk and decided I could come by and read tonight, instead of waiting.

Great post! We have check ups in two weeks. Was supposed to be last month, but things happened, so we moved it to this month. Our doctor is not a country doctor. He's from Peru and does medical missions there every year. He's a good listener and has saved J's life more than once and perhaps mine as well. He's my age. They did a write up about him last year, in the STL paper. He told a story about a witch doctor, he encountered in his early years in medicine, while he was still in Peru. We have been seeing this doctor for a long time. J for about 20 years. We had never heard the Witch Doctor story. Interesting.

Hey Sandi, I am glad that you have such a great family doc. My husband's father was a real live country doc for 50 plus years. I never saw the man ever finish a meal because of the people coming to the house. He was the only doctor that I trusted.

We sure miss him alot.

Did I tell you that I have been going to an accupuncturist for my RA. I changed RA docs and after all the blood work, x-rays,bone density and MRI, He told me that my RA was in remission. I truely believe it is from the accupuncture. I am off all of those meds that made me so sick.

He is just a wonderful doctor. He is a trained physician from China an is certified in accupunture.

I don't know if you ever thought of it but I just wanted to tell you about my experience.

Sandi, my friend, the camera pill is no big whoop. I had to swallow it because the endoscope down the throat and the colonoscope up the bum fail to reach about 12 feet of small intestine in the middle. Turns out that was where my problem (a bleed) stemmed from. You swallow the pill and wear a receiver in a fanny pack for a day. The only thing you can't eat or drink is anything colored red.

The doctor had the worst of it. He had 10,000 images to scan through. And I'll swear he must have seen all those little men in my tummy (that my brother told me about when we were kids) waving and trying to get on TV.

Sounds like you get really thorough *goings over* where you live. I could lie low forever and no one would know. Are you totally against modern intervention, medically speaking?You provided a chuckle, but don't do it at your health's expense! (Says one who never volunteers for exploratory investigations!)

Good to see that you have such a kind and approachable GP Sandi. I agree with Maggie May though - take the tests if they are offered even if there is no sign of a problem. My dad at 68 was diagnosed with bowel cancer and died within 5 months. Two years later my mum at 62 was diagnosed with bowel cancer, had an operation and is still going strong, now aged 87. When I got to about 63 I mentioned it to my GP and last year, although I am not considered to be high risk, only medium, I had a colonscopy which was clear. Not a pleasant procedure but I made sure I had it. Take care of yourself. A x

I am overwhelmed with admiration for the writers of the numerous posts I read, who have a multitude of worrisome illnesses that they cope with, in ways that would be beyond me. Like yours Sandi: filled with stoisism and humour, ye at the same time they are leading fulfilling lives of every day duties, worrying more about others than themselves. And still find time to comment on blogs like mine. I love you all.

Ms Sandi... Ahem!! cough cough.... You best be heeding what these wonderful people are telling you about putting off procedures that you might need...

(listen to ms preacher here... I am a fine one to talk)

I think you are blessed to have such a wonderful Dr...

I have run into nothing but those who want to sush you up... not listen and shove you out the door the second they dont want to hear anymore... my foot Dr being the last to do so... its a bit disconcerting to have that happen .... even worse when there are unanswered questions...

Now I must say all that aside... you still make one of the BEST story tellers ever...

Your doctor sounds like a caring man. I am fortunate that I, too, have such a doctor. When people complain about their doctors they are amazed when I tell them how wonderful my doctor is. I fought the colonoscopy for years. I had one last year and didn't have any problems. Maybe you should consider that. I really enjoyed your post.Sweetie

I laughed and laughed about the "dark ages" My Mom swallowed one of those cameras and they work wonderful!! but I cannot swallow pills and have not in 4 years.. so it is still the scope for me....... OH well , it does save lives! My Dr is a sweetheart and he is a bit overweight as I am so he does not say much! It is good to have a chubby Dr!

What a great GP. Am pleased you too have a doctor who can share a laugh. My dear GP has been stuck with me since I was 14. Almost 30 years on....

I too have multiple health hiccups. You have my full understanding aboput colonoscopies - I've had 8. I thought having my most of the colon removed 10 years ago would be an end to it - only I've been left with the last 25 cms and the exit, so the colonoscope still looms!

I hope 2009 is a healthy and happy year for you, huggles and care, Michelle and Zebbycat. xxx

Please don't take offence, but you're mad to pass up the flu jab! A little scratch at the most and you're safe from a miserable session of flu, which can be dangerous. But maybe where you live, flu isn't likely.

Ah, Sandi -please tell me you will reconsider about the colonoscopy? Please, do it for me! The prep for that puppy is the worst thing about the entire event but getting it done is really imperative. My Mom died of colo-rectal cancer and I am going on six years now come March 13th since being diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer so I definitely recommend everyone get this test done and forget about what a pain in the behind the prep for it can be! Still being around to tell people this -all because of having had that first colonoscopy -sure does beat the hell out of the alternatives, ya know!

Great post Sandi. I am going to see my doctor today. He is the same age as my daughter. I have only seen him once before and he did a great job. I know we have many good doctors and I hope they never lose their good bedside manner. Pappy

Now this is my type of doctor! He reminds me of my children's pediatrician - he was full of common sense and was always able to keep me (emotional, illogical, panicky mom) under control. Congrats on being POTD ~ and take care of yourself!

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